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If tuning devices start going away because they allow users to bypass emissions on their race cars (which is what the EPA is arguing) then it will definitely affect the DSM world directly. Motec, AEM, and even smaller products like ECMlink will all be in the crosshairs of the EPA at some point unless the law is amended to make race cars exempt, thus preserving those manufacturers ability to sell those products to the race car crowd at the very least.

And that's what I was asking because I don't know how this works. Are we talking about cars that are fully capable of being driven on the street, but are not, because they haven't and wouldn't pass inspection, and thus transported to and from closed tracks and courses where they're exclusively raced, or are at least some of them actually driven to and from races?

If it's the former then obviously they have to categorized as only for racing and not to be drive on the street and different safety and emissions standards should be applied to them. But for the latter, they obviously have to be treated like regular, non-racing cars. If you drive do much as down the block, your car has to be as street legal and daily drivers.
 
And that's what I was asking because I don't know how this works. Are we talking about cars that are fully capable of being driven on the street, but are not, because they haven't and wouldn't pass inspection, and thus transported to and from closed tracks and courses where they're exclusively raced, or are at least some of them actually driven to and from races?

If it's the former then obviously they have to categorized as only for racing and not to be drive on the street and different safety and emissions standards should be applied to them. But for the latter, they obviously have to be treated like regular, non-racing cars. If you drive do much as down the block, your car has to be as street legal and daily drivers.
Race cars have always been exempt from emissions laws. However, the EPA's stance on removing emissions equipment (or tampering with it - i.e. tuning) now extends to race cars that were originally built and sold as a street car. In other words, all DSMs. The EPA doesn't view cars that are not driven on the street as exempt unless they were originally sold as a race car that was never meant to be driven on the street in the first place.

That's what the RPM Act aims to clarify - that you can take a street car and convert it to a dedicated race car and be exempt. And that manufacturers of tuning devices (and other products designed for "off road" vehicles and dedicated race cars) can sell their products with the disclaimer that the products are to be used for off road purposes only just like they have for years. The RPM Act aims to protect them.

Back in 2015, the EPA said:

“A motor vehicle qualifies for a competition exclusion based on the physical characteristics of the vehicle, not on its use,” the EPA wrote then. “Also, if a motor vehicle is covered by a certificate of conformity at any point, there is no exemption from the tampering and defeat-device prohibitions that would allow for converting the engine or vehicle for competition use. There is no prohibition against actual use of certified motor vehicles or motor vehicle engines for competition purposes; however, it is not permissible to remove a motor vehicle or motor vehicle engine from its certified configuration regardless of the purpose for doing so. …

“EPA is proposing in 40 CFR 1037.601(a)(3) to clarify that the Clean Air Act does not allow any person to disable, remove, or render inoperative (i.e., tamper with) emission controls on a certified motor vehicle for purposes of competition.”

As for cars that are driven on the street, they will not be protected by the RPM Act. But the EPA doesn't appear to be interested in going after vehicle owners. Too much work. They are going after product manufacturers to prevent the owners from being able to purchase the products that allow them to bypass the emissions equipment, thus their narrow view on a race car that was originally a street car not being exempt. That specific interpretation of the Clean Air Act will single handedly have devastating consequences on the automotive aftermarket if the RPM Act doesn't get passed to help protect race car conversions. It will kill off all tuning devices for all cars.
 
Yeah, the EPA is going ham. In PR, we have a car culture that revolves around modifying the vehicles with joy and respect. It would be a shame if tuning were to be also banned here as well as in the US if the law doesn't pass. Like come on, we can't get performance parts here as they are expensive. Now we can't even modify cars? :( What a sad, sad day in our world as car enthusiasts alike.
 
Race cars have always been exempt from emissions laws. However, the EPA's stance on removing emissions equipment (or tampering with it - i.e. tuning) now extends to race cars that were originally built and sold as a street car. In other words, all DSMs. The EPA doesn't view cars that are not driven on the street as exempt unless they were originally sold as a race car that was never meant to be driven on the street in the first place.

That's what the RPM Act aims to clarify - that you can take a street car and convert it to a dedicated race car and be exempt. And that manufacturers of tuning devices (and other products designed for "off road" vehicles and dedicated race cars) can sell their products with the disclaimer that the products are to be used for off road purposes only just like they have for years. The RPM Act aims to protect them.

Back in 2015, the EPA said:



As for cars that are driven on the street, they will not be protected by the RPM Act. But the EPA doesn't appear to be interested in going after vehicle owners. Too much work. They are going after product manufacturers to prevent the owners from being able to purchase the products that allow them to bypass the emissions equipment, thus their narrow view on a race car that was originally a street car not being exempt. That specific interpretation of the Clean Air Act will single handedly have devastating consequences on the automotive aftermarket if the RPM Act doesn't get passed to help protect race car conversions. It will kill off all tuning devices for all cars.

Then that's just nuts. It's like banning the retail sale of Sudafed outright rather than regulating it as is the case now because some people use it to make meth (but allowing drug companies to continue to make amphetamines that are sold as controlled substances and prescribed by doctors). Or banning the sale of wrapping paper because some people might use it to roll joints. Or not allowing people to buy and install their own webcams because some people might use them to spy on their neighbors. And so on.

They should allow street cars to be modded any which way their owners like, so long as the mods aren't clearly dangerous in ways that wouldn't be allowed for "real" race cars (like not having rear brakes), and provided that they only be raced and never driven on any public road or street, if any of the mods violate street car laws, like removing the cat or EGR. Seems pretty common sense to me and not at all a partisan issue. The solution to any problem shouldn't introduce more problems than they solve.

Doesn't this basically kill all sorts of categories of amateur and "semi-pro" racing, i.e. all racing that isn't heavily funded by corporate sponsorship and full of all sorts of bureaucratic restrictions and procedures that take all the fun out of the sorts of events that folks here participate in (along with of course the industries that build the parts and mod the vehicles raced in them)?

Imagine if you couldn't remove the front and rear brakes on your fixie bike to turn it into a track bike whenever you wanted to race it on a velodrome. I see people riding track bikes on streets which I think is INSANE. But if the brakes are on when you ride it to or from a track race and you only remove it for races, and you put them back on for the ride home (or put it on your car rack and not have to worry about it), then I don't see a problem. This is basically the car version of that.
 
A formal response.
 

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Man i am so nervous about this. I'm so close to completing my build of 3 years of hard labor and research and help from the forum members. I hope we can still continue to enjoy our cars.
 
I think the link to petition should emailed to every member on here with a short explanation as some member are not on frequently. Not only will this hurt enthusiasts, but it WILL shut down some businesses that only sell/manufacture aftermarket parts. It’s so fing ridiculous to tell someone what they can/can’t do a car they own.
 
I urge all automotive enthusiasts out there, if you love cars, PLEASE take 5 minutes to read this article and sign the linked petition - yes, this is the same petition many of us signed over a year ago, but we all have to sign it again: https://www.sema.org/epa-news

The EPA is STILL of the opinion that it is illegal to convert a street car into a race car for competition use only (not to be driven on public roadways) if it means removing the emissions equipment in the process - which is usually done when building a race car for competition use. They refuse to create an exemption for it in the case of off road/competition usage. They're doing this by going after manufacturers in the aftermarket who make tuning devices that allow vehicle owners to tune their cars - even though the products are meant to be for off-road use, the EPA is still fining the manufacturer and shutting down their product lines, putting the onus on the businesses in the industry instead of the individuals who buy the products. It's like shutting down Krylon's spray paint line to help prevent graffiti. This obviously stands to kill off amateur racing as we know it, along with all companies out there that make any type of tuning devices. We know a few that could be affected.

This thread isn't meant to create outrage or start political bickering. The RPM Act actually has/had bipartisan backing. This is simply a plea to get people to take action in a meaningful way that will help save our hobby and amateur racing... really, it's the only meaningful tool we have available to us.

Please sign that petition. It will automatically send letters to your representatives based on your address - the letter is already written for you.
 
I think the link to petition should emailed to every member on here with a short explanation as some member are not on frequently. Not only will this hurt enthusiasts, but it WILL shut down some businesses that only sell/manufacture aftermarket parts. It’s so fing ridiculous to tell someone what they can/can’t do a car they own.
If I wasn't concerned about people clicking the spam button, I would. It's not easy jumping through hoops to get the domain off of blacklists. :toobad:
 
Doesn't this basically kill all sorts of categories of amateur and "semi-pro" racing, i.e. all racing that isn't heavily funded by corporate sponsorship
Yes. That's why it's important that we get as many people signing that petition as possible.
 
This is just a small piece to the overall objective. UN Agenda 21 & Agenda 31. The elite globalist goal is to depopulate the Earth & extinguish 6 billion people with only servants (& robots) left to tend the ruling class. Servants will only be allowed in designated population center, The push for electric cars is all propaganda & producing them causes more green house gases than wht we're using now. Energy is not free & never has been, except in Star Trek. Electricity has to come from somewhere & it's not wind power or solar. The green house gases (carbon dioxide) created to make the wind turbines & maintain them, make solar panels for solar energy put out so much crap is unbelievable. Besides, the level of carbon in the atmosphere is so low compared to the Earth's history that we are actually in a carbon drought and really close to plant life not being able to grow or survive. No more food. The Covid scare is just a big scam & another piece to their globalist goal too. All of this has been brewing now for a couple hundred years & took off with the Frankfurt Society.
 
This is just a small piece to the overall objective. UN Agenda 21 & Agenda 31. The elite globalist goal is to depopulate the Earth & extinguish 6 billion people with only servants (& robots) left to tend the ruling class. Servants will only be allowed in designated population center, The push for electric cars is all propaganda & producing them causes more green house gases than wht we're using now. Energy is not free & never has been, except in Star Trek. Electricity has to come from somewhere & it's not wind power or solar. The green house gases (carbon dioxide) created to make the wind turbines & maintain them, make solar panels for solar energy put out so much crap is unbelievable. Besides, the level of carbon in the atmosphere is so low compared to the Earth's history that we are actually in a carbon drought and really close to plant life not being able to grow or survive. No more food. The Covid scare is just a big scam & another piece to their globalist goal too. All of this has been brewing now for a couple hundred years & took off with the Frankfurt Society.

You wouldn't be a friend of Alex Jones by chance would you? People definitely take the climate thing too far in a lot of ways but any time this whole "Globalist" thing gets brought up it just seems totally unbelievable
 
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This is just a small piece to the overall objective. UN Agenda 21 & Agenda 31. The elite globalist goal is to depopulate the Earth & extinguish 6 billion people with only servants (& robots) left to tend the ruling class. Servants will only be allowed in designated population center, The push for electric cars is all propaganda & producing them causes more green house gases than wht we're using now. Energy is not free & never has been, except in Star Trek. Electricity has to come from somewhere & it's not wind power or solar. The green house gases (carbon dioxide) created to make the wind turbines & maintain them, make solar panels for solar energy put out so much crap is unbelievable. Besides, the level of carbon in the atmosphere is so low compared to the Earth's history that we are actually in a carbon drought and really close to plant life not being able to grow or survive. No more food. The Covid scare is just a big scam & another piece to their globalist goal too. All of this has been brewing now for a couple hundred years & took off with the Frankfurt Society.
Hail Hydra!!!! (kidding obviously) :). I've scanned through those agendas and didn't see anything about depopulating or extinguishing people, but I imagine that belief stems from some type of analysis of those agendas by third parties. I have seen articles posted that suggest the world needs to slow population growth in order to achieve those UN agendas, but that's about it. I realize there are lots of opinions and theories out there. Granted, I haven't gone too far down those rabbit holes, and I'm admittedly a little skeptical of a lot of the big conspiracy theories that are becoming more mainstream these days, not that my opinion on that matters here in this thread anyway.

Regardless of all that - that's a topic for another discussion. Let's try and keep this thread focused on the RPM Act and take specific actions that can help let our representatives know what we would like to see happen. If it fails, we try again. That's really the only way we can combat it.
 
AHHHH politics is finally hitting the car/racing scene more and more. You can't separate it, commies suck and they want to control EVERYTHING, you can ignore politics but they won't ignore you.

Stole elections have consequence, how's that .75$ gas hike since Jan treating yall?

I was watching a video last night a friend showed me where the feds showed up with a warrant searching his shop because he tunes cars. Guys at the local cruise in last week said that a header shop manufacture is in trouble because they are selling their "off road" x pipes without a cat and they had to cease production.

Welcome to CLOWN WORLD BAWS!!

Honk Honk
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AHHHH politics is finally hitting the car/racing scene more and more. You can't separate it, commies suck and they want to control EVERYTHING, you can ignore politics but they won't ignore you.

Stole elections have consequence, how's that .75$ gas hike since Jan treating yall?

I was watching a video last night a friend showed me where the feds showed up with a warrant searching his shop because he tunes cars. Guys at the local cruise in last week said that a header shop manufacture is in trouble because they are selling their "off road" x pipes without a cat and they had to cease production.

Welcome to CLOWN WORLD BAWS!!

Honk Honk
You must be logged in to view this image or video.


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We can still keep political bickering out of the forum (and this thread) and still get people from both sides of the political spectrum to push for the RPM Act. When it was introduced it had bipartisan support.

As far as politics go here, petitioning for your representatives to support a bill to help save race cars (and tuning shops, fabrication businesses/products, and many other things) is about as far as you'll see me allow here. This isn't me reversing the "no politics" policy here, so I'll respectfully ask that we don't interject memes and topics like that into this thread, as all they'll do is turn into a distraction, and like you see everywhere else these days, the discussion will devolve into some all compassing snowball debate where 100 different things get tossed in that do nothing but take the conversation all over the place and everyone gets annoyed and tunes the whole thing out. I'd rather avoid that. That's what social media is for. :)
 
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I got this update so I am sharing the link
It says Our Voices Were Heard!
Lets keep our voices that way.
https://www.votervoice.net/mobile/SEMA/campaigns/45394/respond
Was going to reply here and let everyone know that the bill was reintroduced for 2021. Now that this has happened, you can all fill out the form on that page again to tell your local reps to support it. The last time you signed it they just said they'll keep your comments in mind in case it was reintroduced. Sign it again!!!!
 
Fake it Larry...….ROFL
 
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